Chess, the eminently cerebral game, is even thought provoking in ways unrelated to the movement of pieces on the board. Can you become a talented or great player simply by practicing relentlessly? Or must one already possess superior, innate intelligence in order to succeed?

Kratom is, in plain terms, an opioid, like codeine or hydrocodone, plus components of a psychoactive drug. For that reason, we applauded the DEA when they decided to make it illegal. Kratom is a drug, whether it is "natural" or not, is irrelevant.

A closer look at food science reveals that a tax on sugary drinks (such as soda, sports drinks, and tea), a policy being pondered by voters in the San Francisco Bay area, is deeply misguided. We get sugar in our diets from many different sources, some of which we would consider "healthy" foods. 

Instead of discovering it, Watson and Crick solved the structure of DNA -- one tiny piece of a very large puzzle. Here, we highlight everything that was known before their 1953 paper.
 

Jenny McCarthy is at it again, but she's not talking about vaccines anymore. She's moved on to promoting therapies to "cure" autism that are expensive, time consuming, not backed by science and (shocker!) don't work. This woman is a medical menace. 

The FDA has approved the MiniMed 670G system developed by Medtronic. It's a computer algorithm working with a continuous glucose monitor to learn an individual’s insulin needs. Then, it adjusts their insulin pump all day, every day, to keep the lows and highs from becoming too extreme.

We always hear that pediatric and veterinary medicine are similar. But is this true? We often thought there were commonalities, but after becoming a pet parent and experiencing the other side, Dr. Jaime Wells is certain. Let’s journey through the lessons she's learned.

Beer is chemically complex. Many different molecules are responsible for its wide variety of tastes and colors. Some of the least studied are those produced as a result of the Maillard reaction. Famous in kitchens worldwide, this reaction is responsible for the browning of meats and bread that occurs at high temperatures, when amino acids and sugars chemically combine.

Although organic agriculture and anti-GMO activists pontificate about the poor nutrient availability from conventional foods, a recent study of infant and toddler nutrient intakes suggests that any such concerns are very overblown. Youngsters in the 6 to 23 month age group seem to be getting adequate or more than adequate amounts of most essential nutrient.

With antibiotic resistance a growing threat, scientists are on the hunt for new ways to treat bacterial infections. One of these, called phage therapy, uses a special kind of virus that only infects and kills bacteria.